A beautiful mind
by Mara-Amber
Summary: A threat in the Unknown Regions. One woman to deal with it, two geniuses trying to work together without killing each other, three conspirators behind the scenes. One of them is a traitor.
1. Prologue

Standard disclaimers:

The Star Wars Universe belongs to George Lucas and some of the characters I'll use belong to Timothy Zahn. I am borrowing them to have some fun and I hope to entertain you with them. OC are mine.

Author's ramblings:

I am very predictable... this is a Thrawn/OC-action/adventure, romancing the cold tactician. I wanted to focus on the romance, so I kept everything rather simple, no sophisticated plot. You'll have to be patient, Thrawn will have his first appearance only in Chapter Two. The fic is as close to the original happenings as possible.

The prologue is a little confusing by purpose and narrated in a different POV than the remain of the fic. Feedback is highly appreciated, negative as well as positive. I am not a native speaker and I am writing in English to improve, so especially grammar mistakes might be ahead.

Just to let you know: I stumbled a Thrawn/OC epic fanfic, it is called 'Daughter of the Empire'. It is written in a perfect style, I can never ever match it, but I disagree with the scenery and the OC. This simply isn't the kind of woman I can picture Thrawn with. More mature, cunning, challenging and, yes, deliciously wicked.

Italicised dialogs are in Cheunh.

/

**A Beautiful Mind** - Prologue

/

You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan

Designed and directed by his red right hand. [1]

/

The two proud, black-cloaked figures standing motionless on the view-point shared a comfortable silence while observing the leaving vessel with undisguised alertness. The vessel's red and yellow lights coloured the snowy fields on the planet's surface, until it left the clear atmosphere and mingled with the stars. It was barely discernable among the uncounted twinkling lights before it vanished into hyperspace.

The smaller one of the figures turned to face her companion sending him a questioning glance; her red eyes glowing within the darkness of her hood, the silver moonlight reflecting on the few visible parts of her blue features, making her skin appear almost white.

'_The chances are high that they will establish contact fast enough._' The male Chiss addressed her; his features evenly hidden within his hood; his demeanour and stance indicated that he was lower in rank.

She shook her head, continuing to observe the twinkling stars; two of the three moons of their home-world were visible in the sky. The third moon would come into view only after the setting of the other two moons. This was their regular, unchanging cycle. '_I'd prefer to rely on something more concrete than chances, Captain._'

'_We do. We sent two of our best people to negotiate, and we are opposing the Ruling Families, Admiral._' He shared his objections.

'_She alone is capable._' Her determination and her conviction about having made the right decision got tangible.

The definite undertone in her voice alarmed the Captain and he inquired. '_This is a delicate matter at hand. What more are you planning?_'

'_It is too early yet._' was her refusing reply.

In his subconscious he was aware that the Admiral was reluctant to fill him in because she knew that her plans wouldn't be welcomed with open arms. He knew better then to dig further, nevertheless he tried. '_But she is informed of this, isn't she?_'

Her features turned sardonic and he knew the answer before she confirmed it. '_No, but they will find out soon enough, Captain._'

This was all he knew he would get at the moment and he concentrated on his own business. '_We have to complete our own preparations, calculating that they will not to retrieve the required information within the requested timeframe._'

'_With the threat at hand I'd prefer to have them on the team. All of them. Without the usual backstabbing._' A third figure stepped out of the shadows of the view-point, the red patches on his black cloak giving away his occupation and rank. The two others acknowledged their superior with slight nods of their heads.

'_She is on her way with the Ice Eagle._' The Admiral informed the newcomer.

He nodded his consent. '_Perfect._'

The three figures remained for a few seconds on the spot in the icy night, staring thoughtfully at each other, everyone following his own train of thought. They had set the ball rolling, and they had recruited the best for the task at hand, now they had to wait.

'_Take care, Jule._' the newcomer murmured under his breath, only the white mist appearing in front of his face in this icy, star-bright night being proof of his words. No one here doubted her loyalty and dedication to the Chiss and the task ahead, one of them knowing it first handed.

'_She'll make it._' The Admiral had perceived his words.

'_I have no doubt about that._' He replied dryly, a wolfish grin crossing his features briefly. '_I am more worried about the how._'

The female Chiss nodded slyly, almost to herself. '_I understand, Aristocra._'

With a slight nod, the Aristocra stepped back into the shadows that had veiled him before. '_I know, Admiral._'

/

[1] words by Nick Cave; Album: Let love in; Track: Red Right Hand


	2. Chapter 1

Standard disclaimers apply, Star Wars and the Extended Universe is not mine.

**A Beautiful Mind - Chapter One **

From my comfortable seat in the cockpit I threw a last, farewell glance on the beautiful planet beneath me. White snowy and blue icy fields as far as one could look, the snow sucking in every sound if one dared the extremes of the surface, even a charric-shot was oddly dull in these vast, empty area. The air was refreshing freezing and clean, free of the various poisons that polluted so many other planet's atmospheres. Barren, a never-ending harsh wind was blowing ice-crystals across the landscape, building up as well as carrying away dunes over the years.

And as hostile as it was, there was life. And somewhere in this icy environment was the small city Ludgat, where two of the inhabitants were witnessing my leave from Csilla.

But there was no time for looking back and cherish pleasant memories that would become deceiving lies soon enough. I had a mission to accomplish, this was a time to look forward and to make plans.

With meticulous precision I checked the jumping vectors for my destination. Various direction changes were necessary, so that nothing hinted to my starting point in the so-called Unknown Regions. As soon as I had synchronised the jumping-vectors with the ship's nav-com, I made some minor adjustments and pushed the hyperdrive.

Once we had made the jump, I handed the controls over to the Pilot-droid P1D7, unstrapping myself. 'I am in the common room if there's a problem.'

It had taken all my persuasiveness to convince the involved Chiss to run THEIR mission with a Corellian standard ship and to have the Droid on board. But for the sake of protecting their privacy, they had accepted my conditions in the end. Not without modifying the ship themselves, of course.

Now, the reward of my verbal fights confirmed me with a rough, metal-resonance voice. 'Clear.'

Firstly, I got rid of my black cloak, my shawl and my polo-neck jumper on my way, I wouldn't need it where I was heading. My first stop within Imperial reach would be on a Mid Rim planet, Nar Shaddaa. It was there where Dierck Chaf, my companion, and I had set up the headquarters of our cover-business several years ago and what could I say? It was running smoothly. Far enough from the core of the rising Empire to attract too much attention. Close enough to the so-called Unknown Regions to work - and close enough to all the scum and dirt which was attracted by the Hutts.

Before I made myself comfortable in the common room, I checked the ship and the additions that had been made, there had been no chance without prying eyes on Csilla. The crew had done little wonders, updating and modifying my Corellian ship to latest Chiss-standards considering the tight timeframe they had had. The new weapons would come handy in time, I had no doubt about it, the tracking device wouldn't be found by anyone else but them.

Upon inspecting the small kitchen, I had to suppress a little grin. I had always complained about too few space, and Chiss-technology had effected a miracle. With care I prepared myself a tea within my new, spacious kitchen nook, adding a minimum Lumni to the brew – just enough to feel an effect taking it oral.

Once the tea was ready, I inspected the precious, carefully wrapped cargo, while sipping my hot, stimulating brew. Everything was held in place with straps, preventing the cargo from shifting and getting damaged even if the flight would get a little rough. Perfect.

There were several hours left before I would reach my destination and I could start my homework. I curled up in the armchair in the common room, placing a small, black cubus in the middle of the table, setting my tea beside it; and activated the cubus once I had found a comfortable position for myself.

With a little hiss a three-dimensional Tromask-playboard appeared in the air in front of me, consisting of hundreds of miniature cubes. It was the Chiss-variant for strategic games, designed for two players. In education it was used to pick the few extraordinary gifted tacticians among the young ones, later it was used to train strategic thinking.

The game originated several hundred years ago, being two-dimensional in the beginning and played with white and black round stones, which were placed on the junctions of the lines. For various reasons the advanced three-dimensional variant served my purposes better. [1]

For references I checked the existing data-base of moves and tried several possibilities. It was a challenging quest and only the hyperdrive alarm alerted me of the hours that had passed while I had set up the little game. Very contented with myself, I threw a last apprehensive glance on the playboard, before I switched the cubus off and hurried to the cockpit, almost jumping into the chair, strapping in and taking over the controls from our P1D7.

With long-practised haste I prepared for landing, contacting Nar Shaddaa's port control. With a little luck the person in charge knew me and spared me the trouble of bribing. 'Control, this is Ice-Eagle, Pilot Jule Mitth, sending identity-code now and requesting a landing corridor for landing pad 7492.'

Only few nano-seconds later, a voice speaking volumes of too few hours of sleep, too much coffee and pilots discussing, barked out of my com. 'Welcome back, Jule. Identity and landing pad 7492 is confirmed. Sending landing corridor vectors now. See you at Pit's later.'

'Roger. My treat, Kial.' Before she could protest I turned off the com and prepared the landing sequence.

I had a neat touch down on our landing pad and after unstrapping, I stretched myself. Too many hours of brooding in front of Tromask in an uncomfortable position had done nothing good to my back.

My ship's nav-com had been modified by myself already, still the P1D7-unit was another question and I removed its memory- and nav-chip without warning, putting it into my satchel while the P1D7 slumped down beside me. I'd let Dierck's program deal with it, as every time I spent Csilla a visit.

Before I left the ship I checked my plain black trousers and the plain burgundy, sleeveless dress I wore above it. It suited me perfectly, curvvaceous as I was, on a first glance there was no place to hide any weapon, for that purpose I had my black hard-nailed boots, the Blaster-holsters I wore visible over my dress and my belt harbouring various useful items. After my brief check, I adjusted the buckles on my boots and the leathern wristlets supporting my weaker wrists. Neatly. Underlining an arrogant and superior attitude that would keep the lower thugs in this place at bay, being the chilly, blonde girl I was on Nar Shaddaa.

Taking a last deep breath of filtered and antiseptic air, I opened my ship and stepped out, closing it with care behind me, putting all securities in place. Once I was done with my ship, I took a second deep breath tasting the polluted air before I stepped out of the docking bay, throwing futile glances around the place. Just another doomed town on another forsaken moon. Nar Shaddaa.

The next day I would spent Vogga the Hutt a courtesy visit, bringing one of my latest acquisitions along for his residue decoration, but first I needed to check up on my companion. It was early afternoon, so most likely he was awake and spending time gambling and betting; by the season it was most likely sandworm- and fist-fighting.

I strolled to the old cantina nearby, playing with the coins jingling in my pocket, the cantina was used for entertainment purposes of all sorts, pit-fights especially. On my way, I observed my surroundings closely and greeted some acquaintances. Besides the common brutality and dealing I saw nothing out of sequence that caught my attention.

Coming closer to the cantina I could hear the shouting from the inside, different parties cheering for their competitor in the ring. For a second I stopped at the entrance to check the program, indeed sandworms were scheduled today. Hence the place was crowded, who would want to miss a sandworm pit-fight with the chance of betting on a pleasure-focussed planet like this one.

I entered and grinned a warm welcome to the Duro watching the entrance. With heartfelt friendliness he grinned back, holding out a metal-box. 'Heya, Jule. I didn't expect you so soon. When did you come back?'

The air was filled with smoke, all known and unknown kinds of spice, old and fresh sweat from the various species in the gathered crowd and I wrinkled my nose in disgust, starting to lay my blasters accompanied by a clattering sound into the metal box. 'Heya, Horsk. I just arrived. Is Dierck here?'

'He's at the ring.' He nodded in the brief direction.

Playing our old, ritualised game I turned to walk in, but Horsk called me back before I could take even one step, demandingly holding out the metal box. 'Heya, Jule, your weapons.'

With a faked grunt, also being part of our ritualised procedure, I raised my dress and with a clattering sound a charric, been hidden between the inside of my thighs, landed in the box. His smile broadened. 'ALL your weapons.'

Shooting a glance that would have intimidated almost everyone else, I bend down and pulled the knives out of my boots. 'Your bloody damned correct today, Horsk.'

With an insouciance he didn't need to fake, he shrugged and let me confirm the sealing of the box with my ID-card. 'I'll let the little nasty things hidden in your bun slip, Jule.'

Since he didn't even bother to mention my hard-nailed boots, I blew a kiss in his direction 'You're a sweetheart, honey.' before I turned and went to check out today's sandworms.

They were kept in cages, neatly beaded along the back wall – and one particular sandworm caught my attention. It was curled into a small ball in the edge of its cage, baring its fangs as I scooted closer to inspect it. Strong, muscular, not nervous and intimidated by the aggressive atmosphere as some others who restlessly whirled around in their cage. This was my sandworm, an a-male.

It was worth a bet and I gave the cage-number along with my data-pad to the nearest bookmaker. It was an old acquaintance, a human spiv, whom I didn't trust an inch aside from betting. 'Good choice, Mitth. Chaf is already at the ring, his fight is scheduled third from now on. Want to back on him?' With the last words he handed me back my pad and I confirmed the transferred sum for the sandworm.

Snorting I checked the rates being displayed above the ring. According to the displays the chances for Dierck to win were 6:4. 'Sure. Who is his opponent?'

'Some dark horse, a Twi'lek named Lukgar.' He raised his chin an inch in the direction of a blue-skinned, role-model male Twi'lek, dressed only in a lose fitting trouser, leaning provocatively casual against a post of the cantina. His muscular, shaped arms and chest spoke volumes of extensive work-out, obviously he had to make up for a lack in other areas. My contemptuous look caught his attention and he moved slightly, letting the muscles on his upper arms and chest play and sending me a suggestive grin, baring his spiky teeth. Almost every other male would have been put off with my arrogant, dismissive attitude, I radiated from every pore of my body, but he was not.

The corners of my mouth moved down on their own account, there was nothing that turned me down more than men like him. I preferred them brainy. The bookmaker interrupted my train of thought, sending me an inviting stare. 'I give him ten minutes.'

Without my eyes leaving the Twi''lek I handed my data-pad back to the bookmaker. 'Might last fifteen minutes, I give him the credit of excessive work-out. Two hundred on Dierck.'

Whistling he booked the credits. 'Found some exclusive artefacts?'

I tugged the data-pad back in my belt. 'Dierck is a sure bet. The Twi'lek is too self-conscious.'

The bookmaker smiled widely turning to the next customer while I went ahead through the cheering crowd, borrowing, boxing and forcing my way to a place directly at the ring.

With arrogance indicating that this was where I belonged, I glanced boldly across the crowd, meeting challenging stares and undisguised interest, not batting an eyelid as I found whom I had been looking for.

There he was, Dierck Chaf. A tall, lean, handsome man, in a dusty brown coat, his long black hair gathered in a low ponytail, accentuating his sharp features. As I was used from him, he blended perfectly with the crowd, his cloths shabby, his beard stubbly and his posture not as upright as he usually carried himself.

I turned my attention back to the ring since the remains of the last fight had been carried out and my sandworm was next in line. I observed the fight of 'my' sandworm with great interest, it was watching its opponent who was cycling it with high alert. It was the nervous opponent who made a prudent first attack, my worm evaded it without any effort. I watched a few more futile attacks each one of them coming to nothing, until I noted a familiar smell beside me.

'Welcome back.' Breathing in my ear, Dierck acknowledged me, his sly, keen eyes glued to the fight in the small ring.

'Dierck.' I allowed myself to nod ever so slightly, and he remained so close I could feel the heat of his body and his warm breath on my shoulder. 'What is it this time? Pyrep?'

'Booster's Blue.' Unconcerned he observed the fight in front of us, my sandworm had its opponent in an tight bite by now, black, acidic blood tripping to the ground. 'You should spent less time on that ice-world, Jule. One day you skin will turn blue, your hair black, your eyes red and you won't be distinguishable anymore. What did they want?'

I frowned, the badly wounded sandworm had managed to stab my worm with its tail, draining poison into its system. This turned pretty ugly pretty soon, shrugging I answered Dierck 'Business as usual.' The implied undertone informed him that this time, it was anything else than business as usual.

'Sounds challenging.' The interest in his voice was evident and I glanced at him, his lips were tight and the look of his black eyes was tell-tale. He was bored to no end, seeking distraction with gambling, satisfaction with spice and self-affirmation with brawling.

My sandworm had caught its opponent in a strangling embrace, locking its jaw in its opponent's neck, the black blood began to trip from between its fangs, the end was near and the fight decided.

'Indeed.' The determination in my voice caught his attention and he let his hand wander over my arms.

While we watched the victorious sandworm tearing its opponent into tiny, little pieces I noticed his growing unrest.

The cleaning crew would take some more time to tidy the ring and I turned to face Dierck, placing a hand on his shoulder. 'Care about a drink?' As if he would ever refuse, but this was part of one of our rituals.

'Anytime, Handsome.'

We burrowed our way through the crowd to the bar on the back wall only serving hard drinks.

'Jule, Dierck.' The bartender greeted us, taking two water-glasses and filling them up to the rim with the cheapest Corellian whiskey available – it was the only one they had in store. In a place like this, even ice was considered as a sophisticated addition, only watering down the true taste. At last the high alcohol concentration prevented any possible nasty side-effects in a sparkling clean establishments like this one.

Casually Dierck leaned with his back against the bar and I joined him, observing the crowd while I filled him in, as much as I could risk in a place like this. 'It was the Admiral herself who made the request.'

He whistled and took a very large sip from his whiskey. 'If the old cunning fox is involved, this might get rough.'

Indifferently, I observed the Twi'lek coming to us, he wasn't giving up despite my openly displayed disinterest. It was strange, certainly I was the last woman to fit into a male Twi'lek's ordinary prey-scheme. In fact, this was so extraordinary that it wouldn't hurt to play along and find out what it was about. 'Indeed. We might find ourselves a worthy opponent playing Tromask.'

I had his full alertness and he stared at me. 'Don't tell me they finally asked to hunt HIM down.'

Hiding my smile behind my glass, I noticed the Twi'lek would be with us soon, demanding our attention. 'Yes, I do.'

He hissed and with a bang his emptied glass landed on the counter. 'I've followed his every move since his provoked exile, I'd thought they would never ask.'

'It is all water under the bridge_._' I smiled smugly at the Twi'lek who had built himself up in front of us and I leaned over to breathe in Dierck's ear. 'Come as soon as you are done.'

Sending his waiting opponent a challenging stare, Dierck clicked his tongue. 'I won't take long.'

What earned him a sardonic grin from the Twi'lek in response.

To keep it simple I put my glass back on the counter and while passing the Twi'lek, I laid a hand on his chest, the muscles were hard, there was not a hint of fat on him. Dierck wouldn't get out of the ring without wounds. 'Keep up the work out. It suits you.' I complimented him.

I was rewarded with a disgusting predatory smile, he bared his spiky teeth once more and his hand on my upper arm prevented me from leaving 'See you around.' He whispered in my ear, his lekku provocatively wrapping around me. His sheer, close physical presence was overwhelming as well as his smell and I needed to escape the place, it was simply disgusting. He released me and I didn't bother to turn around, I knew that Dierck had a wicked grin plastered on his face while inviting his opponent to join him with the next drink. Being on Nar Shaddaa one had to do in Rome as the Romans do.

The cantina was in walking distance from our office and apartment. Since room was expensive on this moon, we had combined work and living, it saved us money and time. After retrieving my weapons I took the direct way home, furtively and cautiously observing my surroundings. Nothing major had changed and nothing suspicious caught my attention and without any incidents I reached my destination, facing a problem.

Once again Dierck, the security-freak, had changed the door-code. He did this in a frequent turn, and I knew the pattern he used. Nevertheless, it took some time calculating and my first result didn't grant me access. I had not noticed that I had been holding my breath until the door opened with a hiss, all nine Corellian hells would have broken loose when I would have typed a wrong number a second time.

I stepped inside only to stop short, I had expected a mess and exactly that it was. I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose once more this day. Here he was, the most brilliant and handsome man I had ever met and he let drugs rule his life to escape from reality. Brilliant as he was, he wasn't capable of living, of coping with his everyday chores, so he had given up.

Chaos, stench and dirt ruled the place. Used boxes, clothes and plates with food were scattered around, but what caught my eye were the two young, delicate, naked women sleeping on the extracted couch right in the middle of our office. I didn't get it. Wasn't taking drugs and betting not enough for him? I knew he consumed women like he consumed spice and I usually didn't comment on it. It was his funeral and since we weren't involved with each other's love-lives, I didn't care.

But for sure I didn't appreciate the sight of two naked – for once human – women on MY – antique - couch in our office when – I - came back from a journey and wanted to start – my - work.

Feeling more than annoyed, I marched through the room, carefully avoiding the scruffy food on the floor, grabbing one of the woman on the upper arm and jerking her up. She was more a girl than a woman. Her irritated and disorientated stare and the smell of spice around her told me all I would need to know and I threw a handy shirt to her. Through clenched teeth I managed to sound rather calm, to my own utter surprise. 'Get dressed.'

The second girl woke, rubbing her eyes and threw a puzzled glance around while I managed to utter a few more words staying rather polite for my standards. 'Get out of here.'

Insecurity reflected in their eyes, until the smaller, dark-haired murmured 'Who are you?'

Obviously spice and sleep still made their minds cloudy. Perhaps there was something usable left inside the empty shell commonly known as a skull, I had to give it a try. 'I am the second owner of this flat and that gives me the right to throw you out right as you are.'

I waited a few seconds to let it sink in. 'In a few seconds,' I waited a few more heartbeats to let the information proceed into their drugged accumulation of neural cells commonly known as a brain. 'If you don't speed up and walk out on your own.'

My eyes narrowing to slits, my jaw tightening and with my hands caressing my blasters, I increased their wake-up process visibly. Indeed they hurried to fetch their scattered cloths and I extended my time-frame a little to give them credit for their efforts. Their low brain capacity wasn't 100% their fault.

That was until they stood dressed in front of me, the dark-haired one staring with her puppy eyes up to me and holding her trembling hand out. I narrowed my eyes even more and barked 'What do you want?'

The trembling was evident in her voice also. 'Spice.'

All I registered was that my vision blurred and I saw red. I had left him alone for two months and he had managed to put himself into a complete mess, seducing two almost innocent girls to shag with him on MY couch for spice. With effort to remain calm, I reached for coins in my pocket and flicked them over to them, they caught them in the air. 'Out. Now. Immediately. Go back to school and make something useful of your lives.'

I must have looked intimidating enough because they did exactly what they were told and fled the room without any further discussion. It was their bad luck day that I was the one who had the blasters handy.

Once the door was closed behind them, I threw a closer glance around what had once been our office. As soon as Dierck's brain wasn't challenged, it was a complete mess, ruled by his addictions. This room only resembled the state of his mind at the moment.

The chaos was for him to clean and I spotted our desk at the opposite wall under used cloths and used dishes, only a small place was spared to access the com-terminal. Carefully pushing the dirt out of my way with the tips of my boots and paying attention not to step onto something undefinable I made my way to the desk.

The first thing I did, was switching on the screen, running bug-programs and triple-checking for hardware, indicating that our system had been hacked. Dierck was more than paranoid over his hard- and software, nevertheless a check was necessary any time. Once I had confirmed that the lines were not tagged, I checked my bank-account. The money from Dierck's fight wasn't booked yet, so they had either not started yet or they were still fighting.

I retrieved a data-chip from my satchel and put it in the slot, beginning to upload the data I had collected. Once the upload was started I took the data-chips from our Pilot-Droid and let Dierck's clearance program run over them.

The uploading would take some time and I pulled out the Tromask-cubus again, switched it on and checked the initial situation I had set up. I could spot no flaw and switched the cubus off, Dierck would have to solve it later. Brooding over the cubus I had once again lost track of time, without any announcement our door opened and Dierck entered, a breathtaking, welcoming sight as always.

His left eye was swollen, he was barely able to open it, his lip was torn somewhere, the blood made it impossible to tell precisely where. In addition he was carrying his arm in a slight awkward position and he was limping. All in all he looked like he did have a nice, refreshing time.

I swivelled back to the data-screen to check my bank-account while he let himself fall onto the couch accompanied by a satisfied groan. The money was booked, Dierck had won.

'Greetings from our friend, Jule.' He moaned once more and laid his feet on the couch.

'Which one?' The upload was finished and I checked if it was complete. It was and I removed the data-chip.

'The one who wants to shag with you after beating me into pulp.' Somewhere in between the trash he had found a first-aid kit and applied bacta on his lip, never leaving his comfortable position.

'Which one?' Frowning, I sorted through the miniature holograms. What was worth selling on an art-auction, what was less precious and could be sold via holonet?

'The latest addition to your never-ending list of desperate suitors.' Indeed, he was talking about the Twi'lek and he was suspicious, too. A dark horse in our favourite cantina, requesting a fight with the local fist-fighting champion, flirting with me on top. Maybe he wasn't just brawny.

'Unlike someone else, I do choose with whom I sleep.' The annoyance in my voice was evident while my eyes were still glued to the screen, sorting through data.

'Yep, nevertheless you should be less picky. It is very helpful to vent some pressure from time to time.' I didn't consider it worth an answer and he straightened, all of a sudden aware that something was at a miss. 'Where are the girls?'

'I sent them home.'

Rather relieved he settled back in the couch. 'Thanks. I hate the questions in the morning.'

'It is afternoon. And I'd be most thankful if you would not be using MY couch for your spice-addicted one-night stands.'

He had the grace to look embarrassed, unable to stand my stare. He had gotten my message, this wouldn't happen again. 'Anyway. What about Mitth'raw'nuruoudo? What do they want us to do?'

'Cleaning comes first.'

With a brazen stare he challenged me, fully aware that I wouldn't tolerate his state of depression. But I realised that his stare was becoming dull, he was low on spice. To get his brain back to working properly and being useful for me, I had to give him some drugs. 'Where's the spice?'

He nodded in the direction and following his nod I spotted it lying pernickety packed and sealed in a plastic box beside the data-screen.

I handed him a small potion he accepted and took eagerly. In order to get his life under control for this mission I would have to ration his portions for him, he couldn't work without it, but he tended to take too much. I grabbed his upper arm and stirred him in the direction of his refresher. He stumbled over some dishes in the way but didn't complain as I ordered 'Firstly, get a shower, Dierck. Secondly, you'll clean the place. We have an assignment and I need your attention and awareness.'

Without any further discussion he complied and vanished while I looked for trash-bags so he could start cleaning as soon as he was done. Sometimes he just needed someone to kick his butt around. While searching for the trash bags, I came closer to his room and I had to fight the urge to wrinkle my nose in disgust – for the forth time this day? For sure he hadn't changed the sheets since I had left. No, I didn't want to think closer about this, this was his private life and not mine.

I heard the swooshing of the refresher's door and looked up, only to notice that his eyes were a lot clearer now, so I shoved the trash-bag into his hands, pointing to his bed. 'Clean up and don't forget the sheets. Witnessing the remains of your affairs is simply disgusting,'

Without further discussing he started to collect the filth in the first trash bag. 'How about you filling me in now?'

My boot connected with something hard and I looked down, an empty bottle of Corellian whiskey. 30 years old. Without putting any effort in it, I spotted four more, spread across the floor.

'Pretty straight forward they expect us to do the dirty work going against their policies. Meaning you masterminding some foolproof plan and me executing it with you as a back up. Greetings by the way.' Rather carelessly I walked over where once our table had been, now hidden under piles of papers, used cloth and unfinished dishes. I shoved the stuff lying on it to the ground, catching a half empty bottle of exquisite whiskey before it hit the ground, not missing Dierck's delight upon noticing the brown liquid. All I needed to do was shake my head to wipe the delight from his face. I was here to control his addictions.

'Great.' he muttered in a way I knew that this was anything but great, what meant he referred to the question of whiskey. The problem of being raised by one of the ruling families was, that we had picked up their attitude towards honour and duty. 'Specify.'

With faked negligence I was far from feeling I shrugged my shoulders, uncorking the whiskey with my teeth and taking a swig directly from the bottle but not without sniffing at it first. At least he hadn't added spice to heighten the effect. The taste was exquisite, perfect. As usual he only picked the highest quality drugs. All the while he continued with his task and watched me with undisguised greed, I knew he wanted the liquid, promising him relief from his rampaging, disturbing thoughts, but this was about control, he wouldn't ask me yet.

'The Zumi want to be part of the Ascendency.' If he would not have been the composed man he was, he would have dropped the trash-bag to the ground, so he just raised his eyebrows.

He knew I wouldn't joke about such a serious matter, and I waited to continue until he had digested his first shock. 'They are asking for protection, in return they offer technology.'

Dierck was still chewing on the unexpected tidings. 'But they ARE aware of the fact that the Chiss won't accept?'

The Zumi had incredible insider knowledge of Chriss politics – I, personally, had been assigned to find the mole, but I couldn't spot him or her. They just knew how to push the right buttons. 'I think they are and they made the official request to stir up the Chiss.'

Frowning, Dierck put two and two together. 'His House Phalanx and the Mitth-family?'

He had hit the nail on the head. Since the Zumi were aware of Chiss politics, it meant they had had an ulteriour motive making this bold proposal – what had made the Chiss revolving around the matter. With one message sent, the Zumi had managed to stir up the whole Chiss population – what might have been one motive. 'Correct. Officially the Chiss refused the offer. Inofficially, Mitth'raw'nuruodo's House Phalanx and the heads of the Mitth-Family asked us to contact him.'

In the end, after all they had endured, there was the chance that with the aid of the Zumi they were able to establish another countable force in the sector with Mitth'raw'nuruodo as a leader and Dierck was aware of it. 'Do the Zumi still believe in him?'

Once the Zumi had witnessed one of Thrawn's battles near their territory and since then they were convinced that his military genius was unrivalled in the galaxy – and that he was the one to win a lost battle. As if one being could perform miracles, but it was the way their people believed. 'Yes, and the support within the military ranks of the Chiss is still high. If he calls, they will follow him.'

'Do you think their request is serious?'

The Zumi were a population never to trust, but they had an archenemy. Since I had pondered this question since I had first heard of it, I had answer. The answer was that I did not know. 'There have been two attacks on Zumi-territory by the Vong that are verified, these planets have fallen, but there could be more. One speculation is, that the Zumi and Vong have an agreement to lure the Chiss out of the safety of their Ascendency to fight them. Another speculation is, that the Zumi have enough resistance to hold the remaining planets. Since the Ruling Families agreed to wait for the outcome of these attacks, there is only one way to find out.'

He knew what I meant and his eyes began to gleam with excitement, this was his cup of tea.. 'And since the House Phalanx and a major part of the military forces side with Mitth'raw'nuroudo, this is a chance to install a force. And because they don't want to take such offensive measures, they have asked us to beat around the bush.'

'Yes. I have documents devolving Mitth'raw'nuruodo the right to conduct negotiations on the behalf of the Phalanx and several signed members of the military.' With a smug smile I leaned back in my chair.

'So there is no way to contact him through the official channels.' Again, Dierck had put two and two together.

'Correct. But what if there is finally a chance we might get out hands on classified material? Never before have the Zumi allowed anyone on their homeworld. It might be an enlightening experience. What if there is finally a chance to build up a Chiss Fleet outside the Ascendency? The proposal implied that we are welcomed for negotiations any time.'

Dierck had to smile noticing my excitement, building up a Chiss Offensive Fleet, not acting as strictly as the Chiss normally did. This would give us the chance to act without too much picky discussions once the time was nigh. To defend Csilla. This was like a dream coming true. 'They invited us to Nirauan?' He had an unbelieving undertone in his voice, what was hardly surprising.

I couldn't quite wipe the delight from my features, this had been a great honour. 'Yes.'

'What about Mitth'raw'nuruodo?'

'He will do anything that will help his people, he is an ambitious Chiss, only serving his people. Do you think he will turn down the offer of learning about the Zumi and the offer of establishing an own force?'

'What am I supposed to do?' Dierck threw the forth trash-bag into the refuse chute.

'Come with us, research about the Zumi, try to convince as many influential Chiss as you can manage to support us.' Satisfied I threw a glance around. The scruffy plates and food had vanished and the couch was relatively clean, so that the indignant cleaning droid dared to make its way out of the corner and started cleaning away the remains.

'How will we get in touch with Mitth'raw'nuruodo without alerting the whole empire?' Once the droid had cleaned and folded the couch, Dierck threw himself on it.

With a smug smile I placed the black cubus on the table, his expression turned wolfish as he switched it on. 'We could just contact him via holonet.'

'Come on. Where is the fun in this, Dierck?'

'Indeed.' I wasn't on the focus of his mind anymore, he was considering his moves on the playboard, this would take a little while.

I walked over to the door 'I am off to meet Kial at The Pit.' He was so absorbed already, that he didn't register my leave.

Two hours later I was back and Dierck still brooding in front of the cubus, he barely glanced up when I entered. 'That was fast, Jule.'

'I had a long day as well as Kial. We had only one drink, the place was crowded, but I met Cad Bane. He will drop by tomorrow, greetings by the way. What have you found out?'

He settled back in the couch, his hands crossing behind his neck. 'Have a look.' He leaned forward, reset the cubus to the initial point of the game and when he noticed me watching closely he started the simulation he had constructed in order to answer my moves. I had made eight moves in advance and he had answered each one of them correctly. In the end, the game stopped where I had intended it and he pointed to several points highlighting them red. 'Well done, Jule. A standard situation that can be found in every reference book, easy to find out. Eight moves later one has more or less a card of the Mid Rim, a few planets are missing and a few are too much, but one gets the general idea. Since you forced the focus on this region, especially around this stone, this has to be the meeting point. I backchecked, a Dejarik-tournament is held on this planet in four standard weeks. A simple, easy method to lure him there, he'll get it, even I solved it in less then two standard hours, and I am not a Tromask-master. I registered us already for the tournament eight standard-months ago and booked two rooms in the best hotel on planet. Nothing to worry from this part, but how will he get the cubus?'

Instead of answering, I smiled smugly and pulled my data-chip out of my satchel. His eyes wandered over to our com-term and he rose to check my uploads. 'Where are the artefacts?'

'Still on board of the Ice-Eagle, I took pictures and wrote descriptions, I'd be most thankful if you could put them for auction without making the source traceable.'

'Piece of cake.' Smirking he swivelled on the chair and started to work at his com-terminal while I threw a apprehensive glance around our office.

I didn't bother to hide the smug smirk that appeared on my face while he skimmed through the data, I had done a good job and I poured myself a whiskey while he checked the data back and forth again, stopping for some seconds for a closer look if something caught his attention. After what seemed a fairly short time to me, he had sorted the rubbish from the precious pieces, worth a little fortune. Some pieces he couldn't place were still shown in miniatures on his screen. My smile grew wider, as always he had picked the right ones.

Pointing with his thumb on the screen he swivelled with his chair. 'I have put the cheaper pieces in the data-bank for immediate auction already.' Silently I nodded my agreement, the amused sparkles in my eyes didn't go unnoticed by him.

'What about this piece?' He enhanced the image of a simple, green pot, plain without any decoration and the description I had added became readable:

ORIGIN: Unknown Regions, System and Planet unknown CULTURE: Unknown ARTIST: Unknown AGE: 14 years, affirmed by radioactive analysis MATERIAL: very rare green smeral INTENDED PURPOSE: Unknown

Dierck raised an eyebrow and I gave the questioning look back, along with the question. 'What do you think?'

He never looked back to the screen, he had already made up his mind. 'I know that it is Csillan design. The simple, plain design matches its purpose which is putting food in it. Still the material is unusual for Csilla, it appears to be a studying piece of a design student and since it is Mitth'raw'nuruodo we are talking about I'd say it is one of his pieces from his art-classes, before they decided to focus him on a military career.'

'Brilliant.' I breathed while batting my eyelids and we both shared a laugh. 'The Aristocra gave it to me, it is the study for the piece made of Beryll.'

'I assume you want to sell the Beryll piece first?'

I nodded. Beryll wasn't worth a fortune like Smeral and we had to make sure he'd be able to purchase the piece. Being made of Smeral the auction price would by far surpass his income as an Imperial Captain.

Dierck turned back to the screen and enhanced the next piece that had caught his attention. A sculpture of several wolfish bodies woven into each other so that it was impossible to tell clearly to which body the limps and heads belonged, carved out of a grey stone.

ORIGIN: Unknown Regions, system and planet unknown. CULTURE: unknown ARTIST: unknown MATERIAL: Granit AGE: 134 years confirmed by radioactive analysis INTENDED PURPOSE: most likely decoration

This time I was the first to raise an eyebrow and he shared his assumption 'Vaagri?'

'Yes.' I affirmed with a nod.

'Until now, I didn't thought they found time between conquering to carve sculptures.'

'Me likewise, but obviously they had.'

'Indeed. How did you get hold of this piece?'

'You wouldn't want to know.' With furrowed eyebrows he shot me a speculative glance, he knew me well enough not to dig any further, my smug smile already telling him that it hadn't been an unpleasant affair.

He turned to enhance the last piece he had sorted out. For a few seconds he stared at the picture on the screen, appreciating the unusual piece. It was a sculpture carved out of a red stone I hadn't come across with yet. What was intriguing, that it seemed to have no beginning and no end.

'Make a brazen guess.' I dared him.

His answer came immediately. 'Vong.'

'Bingo.'

'This can't be. This is truly amazing.' He stared at the screen again, trying to solve the insolvable problem. It was even more amazing and disturbing in reality, it was against all logic, defying the basic principles of physics. It was more than one, but it was one, one part was up while it should be down and at the same time it was at the back while it should be in the front. I let Dierck stare at the holopic of the sculpture while I outlined my plans.

'We are selling the Beryll pot via net first and send the Tromask-cubus along with the pot. Even a simpleton would realise that we are after him.'

'What makes you think that he won't bring a greeting committee along?'

'After all the effort we put into contacting him discreetly?'

'The Imperials will check his parcels.'

'He'll talk his way out. After all he'll buy his own pot in a Holo-net auction.'

'What about the other pieces?'

''These are studying pieces, gifts by the House Phalanx to be handed directly.' Yawning I stretched and went to the door of my room. Dierck had started to put the exclusive artefacts for auction on the official com-terminal for the great art-auction held on Naboo once every year, THE highlight for patrons of the arts. We made most of our money in this one week of the standard year. 'I am going to bed.'

'Good night.' His eyes glued to the screen, he continued his task, answering the questions that already came up and I couldn't help but shake my head.

One day I would have to find someone for Dierck to organise and sort out his life for me, he was evidently unviable alone. And one day I would want to have a life of my own, not playing the little sister anylonger. But I had a life-long service for the Chiss before me, it was a question of duty and honour.

[1] I thought of the Asian game 'Go'


	3. Chapter 2

Standard disclaimers apply, Star Wars and the Extended Universe is not mine.

Dear serenity 8118: Thank you very much for your reviews, I hope you are still reading and not disappointed with this chapter. Yes, I am looking for a beta-reader. I have one for my other fics, but she isn't into Star Wars. Thank you very for the hint! Mara

**A Beautiful Mind - Chapter Two**

While I was roaming around my hotel-room on Varis, an Outer Rim planet, I recalled the latest events. In this part of the galaxy, I was known as an infamous, beautiful and unapproachable arts dealer, selling my own grandmother for certain artefacts, with a foible for hard drinks, fast ships and gambling. Yes, I had a reputation to loose.

The artefacts I had collected around the Outer Rim and the Unknown Regions had sold well. It was impressive how many money was left in the galaxy for artefacts despite the current situation. As expected the Chiss pottery had been sold for a ridiculous low price to an anonymous address on Coruscant. The material alone was worth more than the price the piece had achieved.

With some investigation by Dierck himself – who had coincidentally visited the crowded town-planet around the time the bowl was sold – we had affirmed that the purchaser had been a blue skinned, red-eyed alien. With my official name and address on it, Jule Mitth, Art Dealer, Nar Shaddaa, I had sent the artefact along with the Tromask cube to the cipher address on Coruscant. Dierck had affirmed that was fetched up by a blue skinned alien known as Mitth'raw'nuruodo in some parts of this galaxy.

So far, anything had gone smoothly and today Dierck and I had checked in on Varis, a planet famous for its unique, impressive landscape in the peak-season. Now was the off-peak season and it was no mystery why. A local delicacy were the huge fields of Varian, a spice cultivated on this planet exclusively for it required heat, high humidity and the special sunlight of Varis' sun to grow.

In addition to the climate I wasn't accustomed to, the sickly sweet smell of the sugary spice covered the entire planet. It reminded me of death and decay and provoked a constant nausea, which was the reason why no tourists were around. At least the air-filters were working, I wouldn't want to imagine what happened if all beings gathered were on Varian spice. The only attraction at this time of the year was the Dejarik tournament. Huge hotel-complexes that would be not in use if there wasn't the tournament were booked out. All in all I would feel relieved to leave Varis, the sooner the better.

Before I left my hotel-room, I gave my reflection in the mirror a last quick check over. There was a hair on my – for a change - light-blue dress and I brushed it away. A few strands of hair kept falling into my face, but it couldn't be helped, they were too short. Due to strict safety measures on the planet my weapons should have had to remain on board of the Ice Eagle. An annoying measurement but since some recent very nasty incidents the management had established a no-weapon-policy. Not that everyone stuck to it – including me - and once again the openly displayed metal needles in my pinned-up hair had passed the security check unhindered.

I turned on my heels and left my hotel-room, securing it with care behind me. Very deliberately I had checked in for the tournament under my official name, I had nothing to hide and I wanted to be found. It was Mitth'raw'nuruodo who might consider a disguise to contact us.

Concerning me, I was like a blinking light for anyone who was familiar with Csilla, the plain style and the fabric of the dress was tell-tale. The fabric was manufactured only on Csilla, the cystal omnipresent in the planet's atmosphere defined the colour. It was the one and only dress I owned that wasn't burgundy-black. One luxury of decoration I had donned was the unique blue flower I had attached into the bun and there were only two persons attending the event who would know the origin of this exquisite flower. The small, ice-blue flower was still secured in my hair and I adjusted the silver ornate I wore on my ear, hiding a com-link, Dierck wore the pendant. While adjusting it, I switched it on and contacted him "Hi, Dierck."

"Hi Jule. Where are you?"

I hurried over to the lift to get the next one available. A few beings were already standing in front of it, waiting for its arrival. "On my way to the reception, my first game is in one standard-hour. Where are you?"

"Already in the hall. It is amazing. See you later." Obviously he wasn't in a position for a chit-chat and I entered the lift, along with around twenty other beings. As I was used from him, Dierck had done a perfect job with our rooms. They were in the same building as the event but far enough away, so that we would not be disturbed by the constant flow of the arriving and leaving contestants.

When I reached the hall, I had to acknowledge that Dierck was right indeed, it was amazing. Such a mass of beings and all they wanted was to play Dejarik and to find out who was the best player among them. The organisation was impressive, there was a catering area, a gaming area and a relaxation area for those who needed to concentrate and to compose themselves.

Only seconds later I stood in front of the gaming area. The atmosphere was overwhelming and I stopped short in my tracks in the entrance. The gaming area was a gigantic hall, I could barely see the end and to say it was crowded was an understatement. All kinds of species gathered, some I knew and some I had never seen before. They mingled peacefully around hundreds of small square tables spread over the enormous hall. It was the perfect place to make the first contact.

The humming I received over the com was a proof that Dierck was among the crowd. The first tournament Dierck had taken part in, had taken place in a large room with hardly one hundred contestants. Obviously since then Dejarik had become popular and now there were hundreds of participants. No wonder the first rounds were k.o.-games until only eight contestants were left.

I spotted the com-terminals to my right, went to a free one and typed my name to find my first table and opponent. While I typed, the screen developed a life of its own and all of a sudden it went black. Spurring all reason I smashed all buttons, first one after the other, then all at once. The screen remained black. I threw a furtive glance to my left and right, no one else faced the problem I did. Maybe I should reconsider my relationship to com-terms and ask someone who was computer literate.

"_May I assist you_?" I needed my whole self-control to react inconspicuous to the words whispered into my ear in Cheunh by a deep, velvety voice and the warm hand on the small of my back. There were supposedly only two persons present in this hall who spoke Cheunh. The hand was warm, what left only one possibility.

I turned around with a faked smile plastered on my face and an appreciating look, mixed with just the right tint of desperation and helplessness working with a majority of the male population in this galaxy. "You're welcome. I need to check in and find my first contestant and table."

He leaned forward to reach the terminal brushing slightly against my shoulder, completely merging in his role of a flirting Corellian flyboy. "Let me show you." One day I would get Dierck back for his so-called jokes, he had the bad habit of pushing all my buttons at once.

"There, type your name." I did as he asked and on the screen appeared my table and opponent accompanied by a whistle from my partner. My first opponent was a Wookie called Chewbacca. Since I was a black horse concerning the Dejarik scene, the name was completely unknown to me, but obviously it rang a bell with Dierck.

"What's with him?" I wanted to know. After all, a Wookie disguise would suit a Chiss. With a little adjustment in the eyes his whole body was covered, even the height was fitting.

"This Wookie is known as one of the best players in the whole galaxy, good luck." With his last words, he vanished into the crowd and left me to contemplate my bad luck. Though a Wookie fur would be a perfect disguise, this was definitely not Mitth'raw'nuruodo. If this Chewbacca was such an excellent player, Dierck had checked him thoroughly. I had to keep my eyes open for every being possessing standard human build – corpse, head, two arms and legs – larger than the average. As I let my eyes wander over the surge of beings, I noticed that these conditions left only a few possibilities. The vast majority was either to small or had a too exotic physique to serve as a disguise.

But I had another challenge ahead. To beat that Wookie. It took me a few seconds to make out the system the tables were placed and some minutes to burrow my way through the crowd and reach my table. It was still vacant and there was no Wookie in sight.

I took the chance and checked out the games already running. The tables with the most promising games should be those with the most beings gathered and I walked over to the nearest crowded one. With my ruthless way of pushing and shoving I caught a glimpse of the players and felt my blood run cold. One of them was the Twi'lek Dierck had fought several weeks ago on Nar Shaddaa and from his sure of victory grin and the desperate look of his human opponent he wasn't going to lose this game. What was he doing here?

"Dierck?" I whispered.

"What is it?" came his prompt reply.

"Found an old acquaintance of yours."

"Who is it?"

"Lukgar, the Twi'lek."

His first reply was a meaningful whisper. "What's he doing?"

"Trying something new. He is winning." I noted dryly. To find out why he was on Varis would have to wait for later.

Dierck coughed and left it uncommented. "Found also an old acquaintance of yours."

"Who is it?"

"Cad Bane."

Cad was here! I felt anticipation running through my veins, his presence never failed some welcome distraction. Who was he looking for this time? "Where is he?"

Instead of a direct answer he said. "I gave him your room-number."

Perfect. That meant he'd be waiting in my room as soon as I returned and all of a sudden the idea of playing Dejarik against a shaggy, fuddy-duddy carpet seemed more or less unappealing. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, Jule."

Luckily for him he spared me the comments about long gone lovers and I retreated into the crowd before the Twi'lek noticed me. What was he doing here? He didn't look to me as if he would be into Dejarik, but looks could be deceiving and obviously there was more to him than met the eyes. Indeed, he wasn't just brawny.

After a quick glance at the chrono I realised that it was high time to organise myself a drink before my game started. Burrowing my way back through the crowd towards the catering area was no problem, getting the attention of the bartender was one. He was one of the trademark flirty Corellian playboys you used to meet in a place like this and obviously I was not his type. He ignored me, something I wouldn't tolerate for long. Finally, just when I had made up my mind which method I should use to force him to give me a drink, he turned to me with a derisive twist of his mouth and a questioning raised eyebrow.

"Correlian Ale, please." One could say against Correlians what one would, but they just knew how to brew Ale. Hopefully the taste covered the Varian's smell on my tongue and in my nose – and if it was only for a short time.

Without looking at me he placed the beer in front of me. He never asked for my data-card for charging so I turned high on my heels... only to run into someone standing right behind me.

Within the second I had, before my beer spilled over me, over him and onto the floor, I registered that it was a male Mandalorian in full armour. I sent him a death glare, he had been standing too close to evade and I bet he stared equally deadly back – these Mandalorians tended to be hypersensitive when it came to their esteemed armour and beer didn't went well with it... stop it, Jule!

He was suiting all points for a disguise for Mitth'raw'nuruodo. This armour hid everything, even the usual expressionless Chiss' expression. I opened my mouth to tell him to get me another drink because this mess was his fault and I was sure he opened his mouth for a equally nasty reply when an earsplitting squealing was heard and we both cringed about the sound.

"Spiiiiiiiillllllleeeed beverage. I am coooooommmmiiing!" A silvery droid hoovered with dizzying speed towards us, right between us, leaving us speechless and started to mob us with a dripping wet cloth from head to toe. It did do no more damage to the armour of the Mandalorian, but it ruined my dress even further and my hair was a sticking disaster now. The com-link on my ear made a howling noise coming in contact with the wet mop, managing to attract the attention of all gathered beings who hadn't been interested until now. Everybody half-ways smart around knew that this wasn't only a piece of jewellery and something in my ear continued to ring. While the droid continued to mess us, I got a closer look at the armour and I stopped short. Something was off with this guy, was this really Mitth'raw'nuruodo? Would he contact me so soon?

Within the chaos I wouldn't figure it out and once again I checked the chrono. My match started! With one fluid move I shoved the complaining droid and the silent Mandalorian aside to reach my table in time. While running to my match I turned to get a last glance at the Mandalorian, he was equally observing me. What was off with his armour? I shoved the distracting thought aside. If I failed to arrive in time, the match would be lost by default and there was no way I would grant a walking swab a victory this easily. The walking canister would have to wait for later.

Just in time, soaking wet and smelling like a beer barrel, I arrived at my table and was greeted by a roaring, lazily leaned back Wookie. So this was the famous Chewbacca who had managed to even impress Dierck with his Dejarik skills. Even he was in better shape, at least he was combed. I suppressed the urge to wrinkle my nose, though I wasn't in a much better condition, considering the odour. It wasn't the Wookie's fault, it was just that high humidity, Varian and fur didn't went well in addition to the Wookie's diet and my sensitive nose.

I never asked the bookmakers for the rate. From the looks of the viewers around us, I knew that they all had put their bets on the Wookie. Great. This was not my day.

After the draw, I had the first move and within the next ten moves I registered that Dierck had been right. Chewbacca was an incredible good player: his strategy to set up traps, his foresight about my moves was startling. I was no match for him, but I wouldn't go down without taking some of his figures too.

It was a tough fight, I wouldn't loose my own figures easily and from time to time, when I made a complicated combination there rose an approving murmur around us. Sometimes I even managed to make him hesitate and think about his strategy and these moments motivated me. Of course the approving murmur was a lot louder when Chewbacca managed to discard the next figure of mine. It took me frustrating onehundred-fifty-eight moves before I had to admit defeat accompanied by a Wookie's victory howling.

"Let me guess, Jule, Mr. Furfighter won." Dierck whispered over the com and I was too unnerved to answer him properly.

"I am in my room." I needed to get rid of this stinking dress - though it was a nice change to the planet's characteristic smell - wash my sticking hair and have a decent drink before I mingled again.

"Have some fun." Dierck whispered accompanied by some giggling. It was beneath my dignity to answer him. If Cad wanted something from me, it wasn't meant for Dierck's ears anyway – it was high time to switch the com off.

When I stood, I noticed that the beings around me showed me respect and Chewbacca paid me some by howling once again. I nodded while one of the observers stopped me from leaving by stepping into my way. "This was a fantastic game. Never before I saw someone withstanding him as long as you did. Would you grant me the honour to play you?"

I checked her from head to toe. She was a neatly dressed young woman from Alderaan, her cloth indicated her origin. The fabric was of excellent quality, her hands were manicured and free of any signs of hard work, her posture was upright, her stature almost filigree, not one of a fighter but of a dancer. But she wasn't one of the Organa's society or someone close, I knew the pictures of them by heart, it was my job to be informed about the influential one's. The observation and making a decision took me one second. It never hurt to socialise and I gave her one of my brilliant smiles. "Sure, in two standard-hours in the foyer."

More than anything else, I needed to refresh myself and whatever Cad wanted, it would take a little while. "Thank you very much, I'll be there." She smiled back and I hurried towards my room without further incidents.

Whatever he had done, I noticed no manipulation in my security-system as I entered my room but Cad was already inside. With his hat pushed deep back into his neck and his legs cosily placed on the couch, he was relaxing, only grinning as he saw me. "Hi, Jule." Between his fingers he held out some tiny devices - bugging devices. I shut my already opened mouth, Dierck and I had checked the room directly after our arrival and had gotten rid of the bugs. Someone had been inside while I had been in the hall. Cad was thoroughly and in the moment he crushed the devices in his fist, we could be sure that there would be no witnesses. I should seriously rethink the security of my door, it appeared to be non-existent. To have some weapons handy during my sleep was also considerable. "Too bad. The design was unique, I have seen it only once before and it was on my ship when you had bugged it." was his comment on them.

His remark made my hairs stand on edge. Mitth'raw'nuruodo must have been inside my room again. Didn't I have any privacy on this planet?

"Hi, Cad." I fumbled with my dress to get finally rid of the beer-soaked piece. He stood up and came over helping me, the touch of his hands on my skin woke memories and I had to suppress a shiver. As if he had touched something hot, he retreated his hands and I let the dress fall to the ground where it gathered in a little pool.

"What do you want?" I asked while I walked over to my small showering unit, continuing to undress and stepping into the shower. After placing the com aside I reached out for the tap while he leaned with faked easiness against the doorframe.

"Free passage through the Chriss Ascendency."

My hand stopped before it reached the tap. WHAT did he say? Passage? Through? Chiss Ascendency? I turned to him and the look on his face told me that he was serious. Bloody serious. If he asked for something like this, he was after someone big. As it was our codex, I wouldn't ask any questions. He wouldn't answer them anyway. "Anything else?" I put as much irony in my voice as I could and turned to push the tap, immediately the welcomed warm water ran down my body.

"Yes, free and unlimited access to their library."

Almost shocked, I choked on the water running into my mouth. Access to their library? Free and unlimited? To the Holy of holies? As if a free passage through their room wasn't unusual enough. Did he take any drugs? Did he woke up this morning, thinking 'Ok, Cad, let's try something new.' No, this was Cad I was thinking about. Now I stared at him, water running over my eyes, blinding my sight. Indeed, it must be someone or something big he was after, he wouldn't ask me for something like that for nothing. He knew what he was asking for, especially since he wouldn't give away any information. My thoughts were running wild, giving room for speculation. Cad could have this job only from a non-Chiss, he wasn't known in the Ascendency. What could he be looking for? Outbound flight? Did he have some hints already? Or did he look for the Outlanders? Or did he have information about Diercks and mine unique origins? These were many questions and they would be answered with time – and careful investigation. One after the other. Pushing Cad to spill the beans would be of no use, it would have the opposite effect.

"What will be their bargain?" I continued to wash the stinging beer out of my hair.

With a leisureliness characteristic for him, he lifted a hand and was holding a data-card between his long fingered hands, letting it wander between the slender fingers. "They will want to know about this. It is the first piece of information. They'll receive the other half once I have the access."

I nodded while I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a small towel around my hair and another around my body "I see what I can do for you."

He nodded and I snatched the card from his fingers while I passed him to reach my closet. Under his undisguised interested look I secured the card in my boots – Cad was always interested were people hid their secrets, it was essential for his survival. When I was finished, I started to dress myself in fresh cloths, this time I choose the burgundy dress with my insignia on it, along with the suiting black trousers.

The sudden noise of the opening door let us both spur around, reach for our weapons and hide behind the armchair and the bed. Whoever was intruding my privacy, he was facing us both. And once again my security system had failed. The door was opened and the intruder was facing two blasters from Cad, one charric and one blaster from me – yes, the security was lousy on this planet. It didn't took Cad and me more than one second to lower our weapons. Mockingly raising his hands, standing right in front of us, was Dierck. "My, my, you wouldn't shoot an old friend, would you?"

His mischievous glance fell on my discarded old cloths, my hair wrapped in a towel and he continued his mocking behaviour. "You might want too, I guess. Am I interrupting something?"

It was under Cad's and mine dignity to react to his teasing and I turned to call the room service droid for a bottle of whiskey and three glasses while Cad and Dierck made themselves a home in my room. For a certainty Dierck had brought some spice along, one thing I never needed to worry about. Dierck turned to Cad. "What brings you here this time, dude?"

Cad growled, a sound most beings took as a serious warning, but not Dierck. He suspected that Cad had asked for a favour and anything about Cad's favours was big business and something one should be better informed about. Cad answered brusquely as always. "None of your business."

Dierck swallowed Cad's answer, his bright smile never leaving his face while I went to answer the door to fetch the beverage and the glasses from the room-service droid. Not by any means a foreign, unchecked droid would enter my room, the security was lax enough already.

Keeping silent, Dierck took the bottle from me and poured us the whiskey. He wasn't sparing with the golden liquid and in a generous mood, he added some of his precious spice to all glasses against his conscience. Cad wouldn't talk even with this amount of whiskey and spice in his system.

As I had expected, Cad downed the drink with one gulp and stood to leave. For Dierck, it remained only to frown, he never got the chance to ask another question. Cad had asked what he wanted and he knew that I wouldn't tell Dierck about his proposal. While he passed me, I nodded slightly and he knew that I would do anything in my power for him.

When he had left I turned to Dierck. "Someone had been in my room while I was outside, Cad found new bugs."

Dierck whistled. "Same design as we found?" What meant Chiss origin.

"Yes, from what I saw before Cad crushed them."

He crossed his arms and started tapping with the fingers of one hand on his chin. It was his typical gesture when something had caught his interest. Cad's method of detecting bugs was in nothing better than ours, there was no doubt that someone had been in my room again. Our target. He must have noticed that we removed the devices, I was under close observation. I exchanged a glance with Dierck, his superior grin indicated that he had come to the same conclusion.

Just when he opened his mouth, the door announced a visitor. With a meaningful glance, Dierck raised his eyebrow and vanished catlike into the closet while I went to open the door. I left my boots along with my knives behind, I was still bare-foot, but I secured my favourite weapons in my sleeves.

The moment the door opened, my smile widened and I made room to let the visitor inside, it was a Mandalorian, the same I had run into in front of the bar. Perfect. Mitth'raw'nuruodo wasn't wasting any time. Exactly my taste.

With an inviting gesture, I stepped aside and caught the venomed needles falling out of my sleeve in one fluid move. The poison would sent even a Chiss to sleep within a second if the situation required such drastic measurements.

But in an incredible reaction, he reached out and tried to grap my wrist, he had noticed the unnoticeable move. Mandalorian or Chiss, nothing less could be expected from a skilled warrior like him. My hand out of his reach, my back at the wall, he ended close in front of me, his armour almost touching my body. For my taste and from my position, it felt far too much of being trapped. He had the upper hand, at least it appeared so. I have never ever been truly defenceless. It was worth a try.

'_Nice to meet you, Mitth'raw'nuroudo_.' Judging from his file I assumed he would have preferred to beat around the bush a little longer. As it was standing now, he raised his hands slowly, very slowly, careful, not to let me get the idea that an attack was following. Great, he had already learned his lesson that I was not to be underestimated. He removed his helmet and I was staring into his face.

From every pore of his body he was emerging energy, a will to live and conquer. I was doomed. His aura of authority and demanding obedience had been perceptible even through the armour and now it was tangible. He was the born leader. Even for a Chiss, his features seemed to be set in stone, angular with dominating cheekbones. His red eyes gleamed in the dim light of the entrance area as well as my amber eyes enhanced the light. His presence captivated me and for several seconds we just stared at each other. No, I didn't believe in love at first sight, but I did believe in attraction at first sight.

His appearance alone demanded respect, his reputation and deeds spoke for him, making him one of the youngest commanders in Chiss history. He got what he wanted. Or more precise: he thought that in the end, he always got what he wanted. And I knew from that moment on what I wanted: Him. In my bed. Under me. Hungry. Craving. Asking me for more. By now my eyes must be glowing golden, like a predators.

"_The infamous Jule Mitth, I suppose?_" He broke the spell and interrupted my more than vivid thoughts.

"_Indeed. I see, the bowl found its rightful owner._" For the split of a second I closed my eyes to get my automatic response on his presence under control. When I reopened them, I stood his gaze and stared back.

"_Yes, a nice piece._" His glance drifted over my room. The bottle of whiskey was still on the table along with three glasses. Two were empty, one was still filled. Luckily, Dierck had the habit to down his drink in one swing as well as Cad. But without any doubt he had observed my room or manipulated my so-called security-lock. The way he scanned the surroundings indicated he knew that I was not alone.

"_It was made by a small boy before he became the hope of the military. An impressive work._" I got the impression that he was making a slight move with his hand as if he wanted to touch my chin and turn my head up to him. He wasn't the type of guy missing out on anything.

"_For a small boy this seems an extraordinary maturely piece._" Therefore, that we were speaking about him, his self-confidence was immense. But I had to admit that one didn't carve out a career like him by being modest. In his case, two careers were more fitting.

"_The boy has got many resources and talents._" Not that I had gotten the impression that his ego needed to be petted. His attitude was insufferable, underlined by his superior composure. Why had he to be so physically attractive to me?

"_That sent him to exile._" Was there a hint of bitterness in his voice? But hadn't it been his plan to get in touch with the empire and use it for our purposes?

"_There had been arrangements. And as it has been expected he seems to fulfil his task once more and is raising within the ranks of another powerful force._" I countered and his mind, that had seemed absent for the split of a second, was focussing back on me.

"_Captain._" He stated his current status. And all of a sudden the scales fell from my eyes: his body language was simply too imposing to fit into an average soldiers armour. That had been odd about his disguise.

"_Impressive for such a short time_." Without any effort I kept my expression neutral, I actually wasn't to impress so easily.

He gave me another intense glance over, and reached out to brush my insignia. "_I could say the same about you. An outlander speaking Cheunh fluently and being high in rank within the Defence Fleet. You haven't been around when I left._"

"_I have been._" My voice didn't fail me, it was firm and determined, despite his gloved hand on my upper arm. He never commented my reply, knowing that my answer implied several possibilities. The most important one was, that there were secrets he hadn't been informed about.

"_What do they want?_" His deep voice made parts of my body reacting, I preferred they wouldn't. For the upcoming time I would have a hard time concentrating on my job.

I made a straight face, it would be the best to confront him with the most basic information, he would ask the necessary questions and make investigations on his own. "_The Vong are attacking Zumi-territory, there have been two attacks on Zumi-territory by the Vong that are verified, these planets have fallen, but there could be more. The Zumi government officially asked the Ascendency for help, they were explicitly asking for you. In return for the backup, they offer technical knowledge._"

What meant incredible advanced technology, we could only dream to achieve within the next hundreds of years being on our own. Mitth'raw'nuruodo knew this as well as I did, his eyes started to gleam with interest. At a first glance, the reason for the Zumien proposal appeared to be crystal-clear: we were the last to use their advanced technology for aggressive purposes. And we were the last ones left in the Unknown Regions with an army powerful enough along with the Zumien forces to fend of the Vong. Especially when we could get a hold of their technology. But as we already had speculated, it might be a trap. Mitth'raw'nuruodo knew it as well as I did. And if I assessed him correctly he was willing to take the risk, the potential gain was worth it.

He summarised the intern discussions that had seemed to have no end with just two words. "_They refused._"

"_Of course they did._" My indignation was authentic and noticeable.

"_Fools._" His derision was tangible and audible.

"_Officially. But the decision had not been unanimously. The next territory on the way of the Vong is the Ascendency and some of us prefer to stop them BEFORE they reach our border and conquer anything in their way._" I summarised the situation on Csilla.

The idea was clear, revolutionary for us and already carried out by him. The slight shifting of his body indicated his anticipation. "_Who sent you?_"

A smug little smile appeared on my lips. "_The same you proposed your plan to some years ago._" Yes, my dear Mitth'raw'nuruodo, I was privy to every little detail of the plan and you didn't even knew that I existed. I showed him the data-card the Admiral had given me before my leave from Csilla. While observing me closely, he removed a glove from his hand. His hand was slender as well as his fingers, it was the hand of an artist and not a warrior. The slightest touch of his cold fingers on my warm hand, almost caressing as he took the card, made me shiver. He was toxin for my self-control. He didn't waste time and read the data on the card, from time to time he checked over the rim of his reader that I wasn't performing any mischief.

When he was finished he put the card into his pocket. "_What is the idea behind this?_" It was obvious that my insider information had come unexpected for him, but obviously the Admiral had given him clear orders concerning me. She knew him too well, she had said.

"_By sending you and me, the negotiations will go unnoticed by the houses. Once the deal is made, the main part of the Chiss military will serve and support you. Of course it would be a nice addition bringing a warship of the empire under your command along._"

"_They are expecting much, a warship under my command already_."

"_I know we don't._" I dared him and the slightest flickering in his eyes indicated that I was right. There was a ship under his command. Supposedly a small one, but there was one.

He didn't even make the effort to deny it. "_We will have to speak with my commander about it._"

"_We?_" I was aware that he just couldn't take a warship and vanish into the Unknown Regions, this would be an act of betrayal. But why did I have to speak with the Emperor and risk my cover? "_Is he trustworthy?_"

"_He is a male human, he appreciates young attractive women. If we offer him influence, territory and sway in the Unknown Regions, he will give us what we want._" The fact that he was a male human from Naboo didn't exactly make him trustworthy in my eyes, but the perspective that we might get a war-ship was appealing and was worth the risk of my cover. If we were successful on Nirauan, I wouldn't go back to Nar Shaddaa anyway. I would serve our military.

"_So you want me to come with you and convince him._" Not that I believed I could be more convincing than Mitth'raw'nuruodo, but supposedly he had studied the Emperor well enough to know how to persuade him.

"_Yes. He'll be interested in the news and the new perspectives this situation opens up. With your authorisation" _he tapped where he had put the data-card._ "you can officially ask for a back-up._"

His words left the impression that there was more to it and that there was no other way than his one. I ducked and made a step sideways to escape the trap-like situation, it was time to bring Dierck into the picture. Mitth'raw'nuruodo nodded in the direction of the main room to have me entering before him, but I stepped aside with another inviting gesture to give him the advantage. Indeed he didn't trust me enough, he just shook his head and I turned to precede "_You can come out._"

When we entered, Dierck was already standing in the middle of the room, unusually restraint for him. "_Mitth'raw'nuruodo, I am pleased to meet you. It is an honour to finally meet you in person. I am Dierck Mitth, Private Investigator on Nar Shaddaa, also working for Csilla. Nice move, by the way, your exile_."

Not one muscle in his face twitched while he listened to Dierck - the second Outlander he met in one day to speak Cheungh-, he made himself comfortable on my couch while Dierck refilled our glasses. What left me to call the room service droid once again for a fresh glass.

Mitth'raw'nuruodo's eyes wandered over to Dierck who shrugged his shoulders. "_I am your backup. While you two make a trip to Coruscant and enjoy the negotiations on Nirauan, I'll be working hard and mobilize your supporters and recruit those who are on our side._"

"_The negotiations will take place on Nirauan?_" His interest was undeniable. Never before the Zumi had allowed Outlanders on their coreworld, their policy was similar to ours. It was rumoured that there was an invulnerable, uncorruptible fortress on Nirauan. What chances would we have if we could have buildings like these? They owned a weaponry that was feared throughout the Unknown Regions – it was rumoured they could even destroy planets . And some rumours said they even managed to develop magic hoods that could even hide Star Destroyers and a technique perfect for spies: a device that could completely change one's appearance.

How far would we come with this technology! How far would we come with Mitth'raw'nuruodo as our leader? My excitement reflected on my features and my enthusiasm made me walking up and down the room. "_Yes, they invited us to their coreworld, to Nirauan. Imagine what we can do alone with their technology. In addition to your knowledge of the Empire, you command a warship. Many of us would follow your call, we could establish another power to defend our territory. Imagine how many lives this could save._" I had talked myself into rage and was breathing heavily and I noticed a gleam of interest in these red, intense eyes.

"_When do you want to leave?_"

"_As soon as possible_." I wrinkled my nose recalling the stench on Varis. " _I am already out of the tournament._"

All he did was raising an eyebrow questioningly and Dierck answered for me. "_Chewbacca_."

As if that explained anything, but obviously it did. "_I see. We will leave directly after the end of my tournament. And we'll take the Ice Eagle._"

I never asked how he knew about my ship, he did seem to have his resources as I had mine. This time his seemed to have worked better than mine and I checked the chrono only to notice that it was high time to meet theyoung Alderiaan woman for the match.

"_I have to leave. Do you want to play a round Tromask?" _I turned to my bed and picked the small cube from it and threw it over to Dierck who caught it effortlessly with one hand.

"_Sure, a good game never hurts. Would you order us another bottle, Handsome? Pretty please?_"

I took a closer look at Dierck, his eyes were still clear and bright, he could take another one. "_Sure_."

After ordering a second bottle of whiskey, I left the room and went downstairs.

/

Dear readers,

I hope that you are still reading and that the chapter wasn't too boring and you enjoyed reading it. By now, I corrected some of my old fics and have time to continue this one. But please beware: I am a slow updater, it will take around four weeks for the next chapter.

Take care,

Mara


	4. Chapter 3

Standard disclaimers apply, Star Wars and the Extended Universe is not mine.

Dear readers,

thank you very much for your reviews, it is very encouraging to read that you like this story, I hope you'll be satisfied with this chapter. I apologize for the long wait, but I wasn't pleased with the content of the chapter and rewrote it several times. I'm not satisfied yet, but it won't get any better. Anyway, on with the story:

**A Beautiful Mind - Chapter Three**

Much to my astonishment the remaining time on Varis passed faster than expected. In the privacy of my room Dierck, Mitth'raw'nuruodo and myself had the chance to discuss our line of action, to play Tromask against each other and to have a drink or two. Or three. Or four.

My suspicion was, that Mitth'raw'nuruodo took advantage of the situation and that he could take off his helmet. Since I had to admit very soon that I was no serious match against any of the two, Dierck and Mitth'raw'nuruodo ended up playing each other. And every evening I had the pleasure to kick them out when they were lost in a game of Tromask with a bottle of whiskey beside them. My patience wasn't tried for a long time.

Both, Dierck as well as Mitth'raw'nuruodo weren't able to reach the round of the last eight. Mitth'raw'nuruodo had been kicked out of the contest by the Twi'lek and Dierck lost against Chewbacca. To be honest, I felt a little satisfaction about it. If even he lost, I had done well against the bedside rug.

And soon enough I was sitting in my comfortable pilot's seat in my beloved ship, hanging in Varis orbit. Mitth'raw'nuruodo was right beside me on the co-pilot's seat and observing my moves closely.

Yes, this was my ship, I had the command and visibly he didn't feel comfortable with it. The cockpit was far to small to harbour my companions immense ego and presence. He had far more charisma in the tip of one finger than most of the people I knew. In addition to his arrogant and superior attitude, I was lucky that he left me some air to breathe.

We were waiting for Dierck to leave the planet with Mitth'raw'nuruodo's ship and vanish into the hyper space to Csilla. Once more the air-filters of my ship had done a perfect job and not a trace of Varian could be perceived. For the first time since my arrival in this system I breathed deeply.

There was another ship leaving Varis and I pointed on the screen, Mitth'raw'nuruodo nodded his confirmation upon checking the ID-number. It was his ship and it vanished into the endlessness of the hyper space shortly after. Dierck was on his way and now it was our turn to convince the Emperor that the Zumi were to be helped with one of his warships - and his alien Captain.

Relieved as I was to leave the stinking planet behind, I didn't grant Varis a farewell. Without looking back, I pushed the hyper drive under my blue-skinned companions interested stare. While we watched the stars turning into lines I couldn't wipe the content grin from my face. It didn't go unnoticed by my copilot and questioning he perked his eyebrows up.

"I didn't like it there." I explained my obvious delight.

"Most human like Varis' scenery, they consider it being romantic." His mocking undertone wasn't only a hint, it was a clear evidence of his derision for the human habit of watching sunsets and courting each other.

"Varian is the exact opposite of being appealing." Obviously he needed some serious clarification.

One of his very rare sardonic grins crossed his features and as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared. If I hadn't looked at him at this very moment I would have missed it. "Huffing?"

If he could tease me, I wouldn't hold back. "Swallowing." I hesitated, turned to him and made sure that he looked at me before I continued. "It is worth a try."

If he was one thing, he wasn't backing off from a challenge and he was standing my look. "I'll challenge your word."

It took several minutes before we broke the spell, we were both adult enough to know that a job like ours didn't agree with certain kinds of relationship. I let go the ship's control.

He got my intention and unstrapped himself. "How long will it take to Coruscant?"

"32 standard-hours." What was two-thirds of the time an unmodified ship would need and if he was impressed he hid it well. I stood and we reached the door at the same time, it was too small to let two people pass and we ended up giving each other the advantage.

Being cooped up with another being on my ship was seldom a pleasant experience, but his presence might end up being interesting. In the confined passage, he was once again so close that I could feel his cold breath on the skin of my face and there was no way I could resist. I was only human and I loved to tease. "Excuse me."

I raised on my tiptoes to reach his shoulder and picked up a hair that had brazenly laid itself there. We didn't touch, but I could feel the coldness radiating from his body as well as he must perceive my warmth. I breathed deeply, he almost smelled of nothing, he wasn't using any detergents with perfume. The only faintest smell I perceived was he himself, a neatly male Chiss. With a brazen look I challenged him. His eyes shifted to a darker red, my presence affected him without any doubt. He was proud and stubborn as I was and I wondered which one of us would be bold enough to make the first move. The magical moment lasted only a second, and I stepped back before I was the one who would make the wrong move.

"Any diversion on board?" His eye colour had shifted to an even deeper red. Maybe I could get him to admit it first.

"Nothing out of the usual: Tromask, Dejarik, drinks, repairs." My mischief took over, it was a dangerous ground I was walking on. "Besides my delightful company."

His body shifted, deliberately accidentally brushing against mine as he let me pass. It was like a dance, only increasing the anticipation before the final. "Sounds like dawdling." It was high time to stop playing with the fire before it was unstoppable and obviously he shared my thoughts. "You need some information so that we can convince the Emperor together."

He was following me to my kitchen access and I nodded my agreement. "I was about to suggest that." We were both aware that we needed to tune our argumentation otherwise we wouldn't convince anyone not to mention to get a warship and fly it into the Unknown regions. When I turned to offer him to sit down, his eyes were back to their normal red colour.

I checked the economised content of my closet, hard drinks didn't went well with a briefing as well as spice. What left only two options. "Herbal extract or water?"

"What kind of herbal extract?"

"Sedative or" there was it again, I smiled smugly at him. "stimulating."

"Stimulating, please."

I nodded and started to prepare a large pot when my business holo pad beeped. With a quick glance I noticed that it was Cad. What could he want so soon? He knew that I couldn't have achieved anything in such a short time. Everything else was private and he knew the number of my private pad. I switched the holo on and his figure appeared. "Hi Cad. Anything you need?"

"Hi sweetie." He used his bedroom voice – a timbre darker than his already dark voice – and made an unmistakable gesture with his hand and hips. That bastard knew exactly that I wasn't alone and he knew perfectly well who was with me, his manner was too transparent. "You know what I need." This was getting absurd regarding our current stadium of relationship... unless he wanted to provoke me or my companion.

Mitth'raw'nuroudo stood and stepped behind me, into full view of the holo. Cad just tipped against his hat. "Captain Thrawn. How delightful to see you in Jule's company." He was checking on me! And how did it come that he knew Mitth'raw'nuruodo, that he knew his rank? In addition to his sudden interest in the Ascendency? I knew him for several years and never before he had asked for something in the Unknown regions. He knew that Mitth'raw'nuruodo was on board of my ship and had wanted to confirm it. Cad was after Mitth'raw'nuruodo and me! Who had charged him to investigate us? Or, the far more better lead: Who could afford to pay him? And, another important question: Why was he letting me know that he was after us? He knew perfectly well that I would count two and two together.

"Cad Bane. The bounty hunter. Your reputation precedes you." Mitth'raw'nuruodo interjected.

"I wish I could say the same about you." No, it was not easy to get precise and detailed information on Mitth'raw'nuruodo, he kept a low profile. And now Cad was hinting that he managed to get classified information about him, his sardonic grin was tell-tale. Was it a pot shot at me? Was it a warning? Was it a hint?

"Not everyone prefers to be in the spotlight."

Cad didn't bother to hide his bright smile, he was enjoying himself immensely. "No, but everyone has a price."

"Yes, everyone without pride and honour." My passenger countered.

Cad didn't take it personal and played with the controls on his arm while he casually commented. "A true masterpiece, unique in its realisation and artfully executed. And reserved for a few chosen ones. That is art on its climax, in perfection. Don't you feel the same, Captain?" His grin was wolfish at least, his choice of words got critical, his intonation clearly suggestive. If he wanted to piss me off, he had succeeded. It was high time to interfere.

"What do you want Cad?" There was no way that my so-called friend missed my not so friendly features. We did have enough arguments in the past that he knew that he crossed the line. And apparently that was what he had wanted to do.

"I just upped the stakes." With his last words he switched of his pad and the live less metal pad rested in my palm. He was dead. With my own hands I would kill him. Using more force than I had intended I smashed the pad on the table what earned me some raised eyebrows from my fellow.

"Just an old friend." I explained, never believing that he bought that Cad was 'just a friend' after the show he had put on stage. But it was worth a try.

"I see. You socialise only with the best." Was he referring to Cad and himself? He wasn't deficient in confidence once more. Surely it hadn't been difficult to find information about Cad since he had seen him leaving my hotel-room. With Cad's trademark appearance and reputation, it didn't require to dug deep to find out his identity. Among the bosses of the gangland he was someone to rely and to count on, among the others he was a legend.

We settled on opposite sites of my small table in my kitchen access. Being stuck with another person on such a small ship for a longer time usually meant confrontations and quarrels. Only a handful of the crews I knew endured it for several years in such confined living conditions, one had to get along extraordinary well, including the inevitable argumentation.

While we sat across each other, our legs brushed from time to time against each other, always accompanied by a speculative look from the one who had caused the contact, and I got the feeling that we could make such a pair if the circumstances allowed it. He was the one I could keep silent with, without feeling uncomfortable. It took several time, sipping on our hot tea, just looking at each other when our legs touched, before he spoke.

He started with a description of the Emperor's habits he had studied so far, about his likes and dislikes. From Mitth'raw'nuruodo's point of view the Emperor was easy to deal with. He had only one ambition: to rule the galaxy. One simple wish. And we had something to offer that he wouldn't refuse: influence and control in the Unknown regions.

We were about to discuss who would bring the Zumi and their incredible technology up into discussion when, without any warning, a shudder ran through the ship. I stopped right in the middle of my sentence and we both listened alertly to the ship's sounds. There were none, even the humming of the air supply was gone. It didn't took us more than a second to jump up.

"I take the cockpit." He didn't wait for my answer and rushed forward while I ran to the machine supply. It made sense for he knew too little of my modified ship to check the machines for a hidden manipulation. We wouldn't last long without the reprocessing plant for air.

I removed the cover of my power supply and instantly saw what was wrong. Someone had placed a power interrupter along with a timer between the main supply. It was easy to remove and soon we were back to power. But if it was this easy to incapacitate my ship, I'd be dead long ago. I had seven back-up lines, three of them deep within the machinery. Someone must have manipulated all of them and I started to check them. I was about to check back-up number four when Mitth'raw'nuruodo joined me.

"You found them?"

"Yes." I turned to him and showed him the three interrupters I already had dismantled. "We do have a problem."

"Indeed. The security of your ship is impenetrable."

"Almost. Someone managed to circumvent it." Though I didn't really believe it. Dierck had deactivated so many security systems himself that he knew how to construct a foolproof one. And I had an additional one from the team on Csilla. Who in this Galaxy besides Dierck and me had the required knowledge? Maybe Cad was sly enough. At least he had experience on his side and had learned some of Dierck's tricks from their occasional cooperation.

I pointed to the rear of the ship and he went over and removed the cover, disabling the interrupter hidden there. "It is impenetrable." He insisted. So he had tried to get inside but didn't succeed and he implied that it was done by someone with insider knowledge. Great. Just what I needed.

"How many more?" He asked.

"Two. Over there."

The last two interrupters were hidden so well inside the machinery that I needed his help to remove them for my arms were too short, even with tools I was unable to reach them. When he turned to hand them to me, his eyes were cold as stone. "Who is able to get into your ship?"

We both knew very well that this was a serious warning. But for what? For flying to Coruscant and deal with the Emperor? For flying to Nirauan? Someone who didn't favour the whole plan of bringing Mitth'raw'nuruodo back? Forcing my troubling thoughts back, I concentrated on the options. "Dierck Chaf. Cad Bane. The maintenance team on Csilla."

While I summarised my conclusions, he laid his fingertips together, closed his eyes and rested his mouth on his forefingers. The gesture was so familiar that I frowned. Who was it? Who had the same gesture when concentrating? All of a sudden, interrupting my train of thoughts, he opened his eyes and stared at me. "Csilla."

"Damn it." I pushed him aside and ran into my kitchen, instantly getting my supplies out of the rack and placing them on the table. Mitth'raw'nuruodo had followed me closely and already picked up the herbs we had drunken and examined them while I checked the ration bars. The ration bars appeared to be those I had purchased and they seemed untouched.

He had finished my herbal extracts and placed them back on the table, shaking his head. What left the water supply, the alcoholic beverages and the spice. The water was my first choice since it was inevitable that one needed it during a longer flight. Obviously he had followed the same train of thought because we both reached for the water tap when a traitorous waft of a sour smell – Hajo - reached my nose. We looked at each other, our eyes widened in realisation, but the effect was too fast for my system.

I managed to stutter "Tracking device." and pointed to the cockpit and all I felt was my back head thudding against the edge of the table before I hit the ground and everything went black.

One side of my head ached and I touched it to see what was wrong. There was something wet in my hair. I forced my eyes open to look at my hand, it was red. Blood. Where was I? I looked around, I was still in my kitchen, an emptied syringe was lying right beside me. Holding my aching head, I sat up and sniffed, the smell was gone. There couldn't have been much of Hajo within the air supply, otherwise I would be dead.

I managed to pull myself up and stumbled to the cockpit. All I could do was to hope that Mitth'raw'nuruodo had found and deactivated the tracking device within the few moments he had before he lost consciousness. He had had time to give me an antidote, so much was sure. I reached the cockpit and there he was, lying on the ground, the deactivated device in one hand, a second emptied syringe in the other.

Leaving him where he was, I jumped into the pilot's seat and activated the quick starting sequence, there was no time for a complete check-up. We wouldn't have much time left, trundling powerless and defenceless in space before someone found us. Though I would have loved to wait and see who would appear from hyper space to gather us up, utterly helpless as we were supposed to be.

My console beeped, my ship was ready and without giving the surroundings a closer look I made a cold start with the hyper drive. It was hazardous but far less risky then waiting in a well-prepared trap, set-up with a tad more insider knowledge to make me feel comfortable.

We were already far away from our starting point when a rustling of cloth behind me informed me that Mitth'raw'nuruodo had woken up, too. "How do you feel?"

"I feel better." He needed to support himself on the consoles, he was as shaky as I had been after waking up and without any doubt his headache was as immense as mine had been. It was the typical after-effect of too much hajo.

"Here." I threw the tranquillizer to him, he missed to catch it, still uncoordinated from the spice.

"Thanks." He wasn't too proud to accept it and took the double of the usual dose, obviously he had taken the antidote a lot later than me and had adsorbed a lot more of the drug. "Did you make any jumps?"

"No, being as well informed as they appear to be, they know that we head for Coruscant anyway. Since they tried to stop us before we reach our destination, I think it is safe there. I am heading to Coruscant the fastest and shortest way possible."

Once more he laid his fingertips against each other and thought for a short while in silence before he nodded his agreement. "And if any Chiss will show up there, we'll be informed immediately."

As if this would actually happen. It was more likely that they ambushed us on our way to Nirauan and I bet he knew it as well as I did. I settled back, there was no way I would leave the controls, there was still the possibility that something unexpected happened again. "You were about to tell me about the Emperor."

His face was back from thoughtful to business as one could speak of expressions in his case. "Yes."

And he spoke long. Telling me the Emperor's preferences, his liking to manipulate the people around him and also about his dislikes. It gave me a clear picture how to behave and argument, from time to time I asked a few points that were unclear or needed to be discussed, but in the end, after two standard-hours, my concentration left me. The after-effects of the spice, the antidote and the tranquillizer didn't went well with each other, I felt my eyes shut, I couldn't recall the last sentence he had told me. "I need a break."

"Go ahead, I'll take the watch." There was no trace of a doubt left that a male Chiss could take more of the cocktail that we had had than mine, he would have to rest later.

Without any further discussion I went to the back of the ship where my one and only plank bed was. I dropped myself on it and was fast in a deep, dreamless sleep, I was physically exhausted.

He was caressing my hair so softly and tenderly, that I leaned in to the loving touch and in response his icy hand moved to my cheek. His long, slender thumb continued to caress my cheek, so careful, so gentle as if I was a delicate, fragile masterpiece that would shatter if treated differently. The touch contained so much emotion, so much love that I almost cried. Why could he feel so deeply for me, the infamous art-dealer? And there was so much I could give back. The caress got more demanding and I turned my head up to him, his winter lips, cold as stone, brushed against mine, his other hand explored my waist, this was too much to take. I returned the kiss, more fierce fully and he claimed my mouth, claimed entrance which I granted with delight. His frigid hand slid beneath my dress, leaving no doubt about his intention.

"Jule." My name whispered by his husky voice only heightened my excitement.

There were only the two of us, in my ship, his deep, velvety, alluring voice cast a spell on me. Forcing me to moan, to press my body against his, to feel the proof that he was as aroused as I was.

"Jule, wake up."

Indeed he was and in an reflex I licked my lips. I wouldn't let him take control.

"Jule, wake up."

Wake up? That was odd. Why should I wake up? I was awake and we were in the middle of something good! His hands rested on my shoulders and he was shaking me. Slightly admittedly, but shaking and not caressing.

"Wake up!"

Slowly, but surely it dawned on me that I had been sleeping and dreaming. In my ship. The one and only place I felt safe enough to fall into a deep, usually seemingly dreamless sleep. But then I wasn't woken up so carefully, Usually, the brutal loud sound of the hyper space alarm did the job. Slowly I opened my eyes, I was looking right into his face and his wild feral stare. His gleaming, dark red eyes were proof of his excitement. and I growled "I am awake."

"Now." Unmoved, he bid defiance to me. Had he caressed me and kissed me slightly while I had been asleep? The touch had seemed so real and I eyed him closely. "We need to continue our briefing."

I took a closer look at him, he looked utterly relaxed what alarmed me. "Have you slept already?"

"I fell asleep in the cockpit." He admitted. "It was uncomfortable enough to wake me in time. Ready to continue?"

I nodded and we settled in the cockpit, not to miss any vital information, but nothing happened. In the same manner as before we repeated our brainstorming and in the end we felt half-ways sure. We would repeat it once more when we were in his quarters and one last time right before our audience with the Emperor.

Before our arrival on Coruscant we had some time left and we decided to kill the remaining time with a match of the good old Tromask. We were in the middle of the game when the hyper space alarm interrupted our concentration and after saving the game we went to the cockpit.

Mitth'raw'nuruodo managed the registration with the flight control and organised a landing pod near his quarters while I had all hands full to navigate us without an accident through Coruscants crowded airspace. It was no problem in the regulated upper parts, but the lower parts, where the residents of the so defined aliens were, it was a problem. Without any noteworthy incidents and some x-rated verbalisms from me, we reached our destination.

The landing place was in one of the more come down parts of the city, obviously the Emperor stuck to his xenophobic conviction and didn't grant one of his Alien officers an appropriate quarter. Mitth'raw'nuruodo appeared to be oblivious to such minor details as long as he could serve and raise within the ranks to subserve his real interests.

Once more I had a neat touch down and once more I was more than thankful that Dierck had taken care of the security system of my ship as well as the crew on Csilla. We had spent some time modifying the system and I felt that no one would enter the ship while we were on Coruscant.

After the landing, I showed Mitth'raw'nnuruodo the boxes containing the artifacts the Aristocra had given me for him and we took care of them together.

With care we placed the boxes with the artifacts on the hovering sack truck I kept handy in my ship. One could never be sure of the equipment of the planet one landed on and my goods were too delicate and matchless to let a droid carry them. For once I had a company who understood my pernickety handling. It took us several time to secure the boxes properly on the truck and then we left the landing bay for his quarters.

His eyebrows contracted while he slid his ID-card into his door-lock and typed the security code. Something was off and I reached for my blaster, but he stopped me by holding my arm and shaking his head. "This won't be necessary."

I glared at him and kept my blaster ready, it was never unnecessary to have a weapon handy if something was off with the security lock. When the door opened, he quickly entered in front of me and I half-expected someone to clobber him in the dark entrance area. A little annoyed that he had been right I pushed the hovering trunk inside, I wasn't willing to take the risk that some coincidental passerby took the chance to get rich. This wasn't exactly the first address on Coruscant.

He waited to proceed until the door closed behind me and I had taken my boots of, a habit common on Csilla I had adopted. Only then he proceeded and I left the truck where it was. I wasn't his delivery boy. We entered his living room – or better what you used to call living room in apartments that were designed like this one. It was completely black and empty except for a gigantic armchair right in the middle with the back facing us, several little spots on the ceiling illuminated the room. It was the perfect scenery for meditation and projections. I had only a second to make my observations then Mitth'raw'nuruodo stepped in front of me blocking my sight. "What do you want?" He was not only blocking the sight of me, he was also blocking the sight on me and I heard the chair swiveling around, my blaster was ready again.

"I heard that you would come back and thought you might appreciate some company." The voice was melodious and sensuous, the timbre sensual, she must be very convinced of her sexual appearance impact.

"Then you are mistaken." He stepped forward and I came into her view and her smile left her pretty heart-shaped face. She was one of the most seductive Twi'leks I had ever seen and the sexbomb stood to walk the few steps to Mitth'raw'nuruodo and wrap herself around him to make sure I didn't interpret the situation wrong.

Huh. It might be good for his ego, but the last thing I needed was a catfight. Jealousy was for the weak and lame, lacking self-confidence. I placed one of my warm smiles on my face. "I am Jule Mitth. I'm delighted to meet you."

She ignored me completely, tracing with her fingers over his chest, opening with skillful fingers his buttons. "I thought that we might celebrate your arrival."

"I told you already that you are mistaken, your service is not required tonight."

She wasn't dislodged so easily and I assumed that he was one of her better customers regarding the treatment. Not every officer was a Chiss who didn't take pleasure in hurting someone.

"I have the whole night." With an open display of haughtiness she eyed me up and down, obviously assessing why he gave his preference to me. Well, my dear, the answer was obvious: I had a life besides serving Imperial officers in the bedroom and I kept my warm smile for her.

"I get the boxes." I said with a glance at Thrawn who nodded consenting and the female tightened her hold of him.

From the corner of my eyes I noticed that her eyes started to shimmer suspiciously "Boxes? Why? What have I done wrong?" and I gained ground. One of the last things I wanted to witness was, how a drama queen was turned down.

I pretended to busy myself with the boxes until a sniffing Twi'lek passed me while staring hateful at me. If there was a chance to slam the door into my face, she would have done it, but it closed soundlessly behind her and Mitth'raw'nuruodo stepped beside me, removing his gloves. One finger after the other was freed from the barrier to the outside world. He had the most sensitive hands I had ever seen. What might he be able to perform with these fingers, if even a spoiled Twi'lek left his apartment being shaken about the end of the affair? She surely had one admirer on every finger.

"What did you do?"

"I dismissed her from my service."

"It must have been a good one."

"I am good in anything I am doing. But she got too attached, it was better to send her off now." So, my dear. She got too attached.

He wouldn't pretend to feel something and removed the gloves from his hands completely. The idea that these bared hands touched nothing else besides me, all the time protected by gloves when he left his room, was electrifying. My smell would linger and anytime he drank or ate he would be reminded of me. There would come a time he would do exactly that.

We placed the boxes, one beside the other in his living room and I started opening the first one. Since I had packed them, I knew how to handle the unpacking without damaging the content. Soon enough I held the first artwork in my hands, it was the Vaagri-piece. I let my hand wander over the impressive sculpture, the only word that came to my mind was amazing. Tough it was made of a cold, hard stone it was smooth. While caressing the bodies one had the impression of a warm fur, a pulsating body, it was moving. I opened my eyes that I had unconsciously closed and looked at the immovable statute. How could this be possible? My look wandered over to Mitth'raw'nuruodo who had followed my moves and expressions closely.

"Vaagri." Was all he stated.

"Indeed. The true spirit of the piece can only be conceived when it is touched."

"These resemble the skins they use to wear."

"Yes. And as well as the skins this is not what it appears to be."

He reached out and touched the work. He did what I had done: touched it, caressed it, closed his eyes and was lost in the sensation. When he opened his eyes, he was looking differently at the work. "Truly amazing."

While he had examined the Vaagri-artifact, I had opened the next box and taken out the smeral pot made by him several years ago. "The Aristocra thought you might need some money. You might want to sell your piece."

He threw a quick glance in my direction and looked at the smeral pot I was balancing on my fingers, nodding his agreement. He was still busy with the Vaagri-piece and I set the pot beside the box, immediately opening the third box. Within the third box was a variety of artifacts the Aristocra had given me to ensure Mitth'raw'nuruodo's wellbeing. From time to time he could sell the pieces to raise funds for the master plan behind the whole staging. It was a huge box and there were a lot of artifacts in it. We had chosen most of them for the valuable used material, the artistic value was debatable and a matter of taste. Some of them were plainly vulgar and lacked finesse. Nevertheless, I treated them with care, some – like the Hutts – would pay a little fortune for them.

"Are they all for keeping?" he interrupted my work, a derisive twist around his mouth while he eyed the pile warily and I couldn't wipe the grin out of my face. Obviously he didn't appreciate artists who worked only for the profit and the mainstream.

"No, only two are." I pointed to the one he was admiring in his hands and the closed forth box. The relief in his features was evident.

He set the Vaagri-statute aside on the floor due to the lack of any furniture beside the command chair. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Yes, thanks." I answered through clenched teeth while being busy with the forth box. I had packed the Vong artefact a tad too good, I had problems opening the cover without using too much force. I tried another spot and finally the cover softened and with a crack the box was open.

"Here, cheers."

"Thanks." Without looking at it, I took the glass from his hands and nipped. It was hot. It burned my throat. I had to cough. What kind of poison was this? I checked the content of the glass, it was the Csillian variant of whiskey, recognisable on the metallic taste and the blue colour. There had been one bottle among the presents from Csilla. With effort I suppressed the next cough, I had a few moments before the full effect would hit me.

"Excellent quality." I managed to say and visibly he was of the same opinion for he sat on the ground and leaned with closed eyes against the wall. Yes, his system would deal with the side-effects much better than mine.

And indeed, I fell asleep on the spot as soon as I had emptied the beaker.


End file.
